If Dreams Came True
by CSakuraS
Summary: Professor Agasa has disappeared. Worried, Haibara turns to the one person she could trust. Have her worst fears come to life? *Final Chapter added! Thanks for reading!*
1. It Never Goes Away...

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If Dreams Came True

A look into Haibara's everyday nightmare…

I'd like to note that although most people seem to prefer calling her Ai, I remain using the name Haibara, since only about two people (Agasa and Ran) call her Ai-chan in the series so far. Anyway, I obviously don't own Detective Conan and all that so let's get on with the story, shall we? ^_^  
  
  
  


Chapter 1- It Never Goes Away…

Gunshots thundered off in the dark reaches of her memory. It echoed around the girl's head, never stopping, never going away. Forever reminding her of her sister's death…

_"Onee-chan…" _she remembered whispering. "Why did you have to go? Why…?" The young woman wept silently in the darkness, unaware of the aching of her wrist as it dangled uselessly from a handcuff. "Why couldn't you take me with you?"

Not that it would make much difference anyway: she herself would be joining her sister in the list of assassinated members of the Black Organization. It would come eventually, but not in the way she wanted. 

They were separated now, like they were for the majority of their lives. The young woman sat alone, in the dark corner of the laboratory. Always dark, always alone. 

Seeking for some shred of hope, she put her free hand in the pocket of her lab coat. It was empty but for one thing. Something no bigger than a coin, but five times as deadly when swallowed. 

She held the pill tightly in her fingers. APTX4869: the most important project she'd ever been in. How long had she been working on it now? Ten months? A year? Although it was still it was in its experimental stage, the other members had already used it several times, and it was successful. But there was one exception; one hint that maybe this drug was more than what it was originally made to do. If only she had more time, she could have found out what.

But did it matter now? The young woman stared hard at it through the darkness. She hated it more than anything- a bringer of death to those who still had the will to live. Yet to her, the drug was now a blessing. Why wait for them to come when she could end it all now? End the suffering with one quick swallow? She was going to die anyhow, why not on her own terms?

"I'm coming now, Onee-chan…" With that, she tossed it in her mouth and gulped. At once she knew that it would not be the peaceful death she thought it would be. A violent spasm shook her body. She grew hot, and began to sweat. The pounding of her heart against her ribs was torturous. It felt as if her bones were melting! Through her eyes widened with pain, the young woman could see steam slowly wafting from her skin with a soft hiss…

An hour passed. The young woman sat up from her sprawled position on the floor. The pain had finally stopped, but she was still alive. Exhausted and wet with perspiration, she put her hand against her throbbing head…then gasped. Her right hand, the hand that was handcuffed, was free. Not only that, but the sleeve of her labcoat was two times too large for her arm, and was now slipping down to her elbow. In fact, all of her clothes had grown bigger, as if by magic. But wait…She looked back at the handcuff hanging from the pipe. How…?

A shock of realization passed upon her. Shakily, she put her hand to her chest, and to her horror, felt nothing. "H-how can this be?" she cried. "This is impossible!" But there was no denying it. The young woman had shrunk into a little girl.

Everything had gone wrong. That drug was meant to kill her, not- not _this!_ Why? What was it that made her body react in such a way? The girl collapsed to the floor again in confusion and despair.

The vision from the past faded away in a menacing fog and was soon replaced with something much more terrifying. A figure clothed in black with cold, cruel eyes and a grin that made her blood run cold.

_"Sherry…"_ he called. _"Sherry…"_

She tried to run, but couldn't move. Her body froze still as stone as the figure approached. He was hiding something under his coat. Slowly, ever so slowly, he pulled it out and pointed it at her.

"Bye-bye, Sherry…"

**BANG!!**

With a yell, Haibara was jolted out of her uneasy sleep. She gazed up at the ceiling for a few minutes, panting heavily. The few rays of sunlight poured in through the windows, illuminating the room with dawn's first kiss. But it did not comfort her.

Every night she had the dreams: haunting memories of what had been and bone-chilling prophecies of what could be. Every night… "Every…damn…night!" she screamed, and threw her pillow at the wall. Shaking, she lay back down on the bed and laughed, sadly and silently.

The young woman-turned-little girl closed her eyes. She could barely see her sister's face, still smiling back at her as if she hadn't a care in the world. A tear trickled down across Haibara's face onto the bedcover, where it left a damp patch. "Onee-chan…"

Suddenly she opened her eyes again and looked at the other bed beside her. The sheets were kept neatly and hardly a wrinkle grazed its surface. It was empty.


	2. Lonely Heart

Chapter 2- Lonely Heart

She finished it in five minutes. The test, like everything else taught in the classroom, was too easy for her. She breezed through, occasionally putting in a wrong answer to avoid suspicion. Haibara put down her pencil and looked around. The other children all leaned over their papers with concentration. Tsuburaya-kun was constantly erasing things, Yoshida-san was biting her lip, and Kojima-kun looked simply horrified. Did they forget to study _again?_

Then she turned to look at the boy sitting next to her. He'd finished just a few seconds before she did, and was now chewing on his pencil, staring at the blackboard with a look of pure boredom. The result of having a high school student retake elementary school. 

Haibara sighed. It would be twenty more minutes before the rest of the class finished, maybe more. They weren't aloud to talk to each other until then, and she'd forgotten her magazine. This meant she had free time. 

After going through the work she'd done the previous evening and mentally noting that soy sauce would _not_ work well in the antidote (contrary to Professor Agasa's theories), her mind drifted once again to his sudden departure. It wasn't normal for him to leave like that without even telling her where he was going. The Professor always remembered to leave a note whenever he went to buy a new chemical or some other explosive ingredient. She'd have to ask him about it when school ended.

"That test was _hard!_"

"I wish we had more time."

"I'm just glad that it's over!"

"What do you think, Conan-kun?" Ayumi asked, trying to push him into the conversation.

"It wasn't that bad."

"Yeah, right. I bet you and Haibara got 100% again." Genta sneered.

The familiar chattering droned on and on as they walked down the street. With the busy city as a background, it made for a loud, cheerful atmosphere, very different from the elementary school days of Haibara's past life. She could remember the times back when she lived in America. The kids never talked to her. Sure, they whispered behind her back, but as time passed they lost interest and she became a ghost to their eyes. She never made any real friends, which was actually better considering the situation she was now in-

"Haibara-san? _Haibara-san_?"

"Eh?" Startled out of her thoughts, Haibara found herself face to face with a cute little girl.

"Want to go to Tropical Land with us this weekend?" said Ayumi. 

"It could make up for your birthday-" Mitsuhiko began, but Ayumi glared at him and he fell silent.

"Sure." Haibara replied, and watched as Ayumi's worried face turned into a bright smile. 

They'd been acting strangely like that for two days now since, when asked what day her birthday was, she replied that she'd forgotten.

_"You forgot!? How could you forget your own birthday?"_ Genta had cried.

To tell the truth, she hadn't forgotten, though she dearly wished she could. For it was on her birthday that, a year ago, before her transformation, she'd received the worst gift of all. The news of her sister.

Perhaps her thoughtfulness showed on her face, because she suddenly felt Kudo-kun's eyes boring into her. Trying to read her mind, no doubt. He was always trying to figure her out, but she preferred to remain a mystery, one he'll never solve. Haibara smiled inwardly. And that would be a great achievement, considering who he was.

The wind moaned and howled in the night, shaking the trees, chasing the restless clouds across the sky. The windows were lit up in the Agasa residence, but only one person was within. Haibara stood on a stool in the kitchen, making tea. The Professor still hadn't come back.

There were no notes, no calls, nothing to tell her where he had gone and why. 

"Well, he probably just went over to a friend's house." she told herself while pouring hot water in a mug. "And as for the note, he must have forgot. There's no other reason why he would be out so long." But was there? Yes, and something deep in her heart told her that it was a much logical explanation for his disappearance.

Haibara sat down on a couch and sipped her tea. After all, it was bound to come someday. How long could such a masquerade last? 

The wind shook the trees and the leaves rustled against each other. They made an unearthly sound, almost like a voice.

_"Sherry…Sherry…"_

But then again, why would only the Professor disappear? It made more sense to come erase them all at once, not one person at a time. It wasn't their style.

_"Sherry…Sherry…"_

She was hearing things again. There was no way the organization would do something so childish as whispering her codename to give her a scare. Absolutely ridiculous.

_"SHERRY…SHERRY…"_

She couldn't take it anymore. Grabbing her bag and a change of clothes, Haibara rushed out of the house and into the dark night. Sitting and guessing about the Professor's whereabouts wasn't going to help anything, she had to have answers. And there was only one place to go. 


	3. Hidden Truth

Chapter 3- Hidden Truth

It was late at night when the household of the Mouri Detective Agency was startled awake by the doorbell.

Ran poked her head out of her room. "A visitor this late?"

Ding-Dong!

The door to Kogoro's room opened. "Ran-nee-chan?" Conan yawned.

Seeing him, Ran quickly wiped her eyes with a sleeve then hurried to the door.

Ding-Dong!

"Just a minute!"

Opening the door, she looked down at the ground floor and was surprised to see none other than- "Ai-chan!?"

Haibara leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

Ran hurried downstairs to the little girl. "What's wrong? You shouldn't be out so late at night!"

Haibara didn't answer for a while. How humiliating…to have to come crawling like a beggar to _her_. She looked up, and saw Kudo-kun peering down curiously from upstairs. Still, there was no choice…

"Professor went on a trip," she explained. "I…I need a place to stay."

"Well, that's fine with me. I'm not sure about dad though; but he's asleep right now. And you can't stay by yourself!" Ran smiled, but Haibara couldn't help but notice her tired, red eyes.

Haibara lay alone on the couch in the office, waiting. Ran had offered her room on the top floor, but she had managed to persuade her that she'd rather sleep alone. Reluctantly, Ran agreed, failing to realize the true reason for this.

There was a creak as the door opened slightly. A small form slipped in, tiptoeing so that he stood beside the couch.

"Something's wrong." Kudo-kun was in his pajamas, but his tone was entirely professional. His glasses reflected the streetlight flooding in through the windows, masking the serious eyes behind them. "What happened to the Professor?"

Haibara sat up, wrapping the thin blanket around herself. "I don't know," she whispered solemnly. "I just woke up the other day and he wasn't there."

"So you think…is it them?"

"From the circumstances, I find it unlikely. But with them, there is always a possibility."

He still seemed troubled. "He didn't tell you anything? Was he planning to go anywhere at all?"

"Not that I know of. I looked, but couldn't find any note. And there was no message on the answering machine."

"That's not like him."

"I know."

Conan sighed and sat on the couch next to her. Rubbing his eyes beneath his glasses, the former teenage detective murmured, "Tell me everything."

"So last night you went to bed early, while the Professor stayed up to work on his experiments?"

"I think he was trying to make a pair of spy-camera-goggles, but it was hard to tell."

"Great," Conan grumbled, jotting down notes in his small notebook. "As if I don't look stupid enough already, just wait until I'm wearing goggles on my head everyday. And? Did you hear anything? Did you notice anything unusual when you woke up?"

"I was…preoccupied. Besides, I thought he'd be back by the time I came home."

"Hmm. Why's that?"

"Because only his tennis shoes were gone. Rare as it was, I assumed that he'd just gone on an early morning walk."

Conan looked up from his notebook for a second. Haibara immediately recognized that look; something wasn't right with her story. But then it was gone, and he went back to scribbling notes.

"And when you came back from school, he still wasn't there?"

"Yes."

"So why didn't you call me right then and there?" he asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice. "I thought we were in this together."

"That's right. And that's why I came here now," Haibara said coldly. So after all this time, he still didn't completely trust her?

Their eyes met. For a brief moment an unsettling tension ran between them, as if they were testing each other. Finally Kudo-kun broke it off by shutting his notebook with a snap.

"Sorry. I'm just worried about him, that's all." He slid off the couch. "There's little else we can do right now. Tomorrow we'll take a closer look at the Professor's house, but until then we mind as well get some sleep with whatever is left of the night."

Conan headed for the door.

"Kudo-kun?"

"What?" he yawned.

"What was it like? Watching my sister die…"

The boy stopped dead in his tracks. "Eh?" he squeaked, bewildered.

Haibara felt just as surprised. She didn't know what had come over her to say that out loud, but she had to admit, it was a question she'd been yearning to ask.

Conan caught the ever-serious expression on her features, and took a deep breath. He looked away while he spoke, and seemed to be seeing something that was not there. "By the time I arrived, it was too late. Her wound was deep, and she was bleeding badly. I remember…I remember her telling me that she didn't want to be used by them anymore." He hesitated, then continued. "I'd already seen plenty of corpses back then, but never had anyone die right in front of me like that. And the worst part was…there was nothing I could do to help her."

Haibara closed her eyes and leaned back on the couch. "Thank you," she whispered softly.

Conan fidgeted. "H-hey, Haibara…"

"You can go now if you want."

Still feeling undecided, he slipped out the room and shut the door.

She was alone again.


	4. Falling Apart

Chapter 4- Falling Apart

Here it is! Chapter 4 of If Dreams Came True, aka Driving Miss Suicidal (out of her mind, that is).  
  
Haibara: Excuse me, but I only try to kill myself for the good of the people around me!  
  
Conan: Don't run from your destiny, Haibara…  
  


Light played on her eyelids, causing them to blink blindly in the morning sun. Haibara woke slowly and looked around at her surroundings sleepily. Where was she? Oh, that's right. In the office of the Mouri Detective Agency. What time was it? She looked at her watch. 9:15!! She was late for school!

Why hadn't anyone waken her? Haibara climbed the stairs to the top floor. The door was wide open. "Hello?" she called. Silence. A deep dread grew in the pit of her stomach. "Anyone there!?" She bounded into the rooms. Empty. Empty! **Empty!! **It was almost as if the inhabitants had disappeared into thin air…

Heart pounding madly, breath coming out in ragged gasps, Haibara sunk to the floor in the living room. They were gone…all of them…The organization must have come and disposed of them during the night- no, wait, surely they would have gotten ridden of her too, surely they would have seen her sleeping in the office… then why- where- how-

Suddenly another horrid thought pushed all the others away. The children!

Without bothering to change into fresh clothes, even forgetting to put on her shoes, Haibara dashed down the stairs, out the building, and went straight for Teitan Elementary School.

It was never the thought of death that left her in such horror. In fact, if she were on her own, she'd welcome the chance for an escape from the miserable existence called life. But she wasn't on her own. If death were to come to her, that would also mean that the people she'd become so unwillingly fond of would be in danger too. They still wanted to live. They _needed_ to live, if only for the simple fact that many dear things were still left unsaid.

And it was all her fault. Because _she_ had made that drug, because _she_ had come into their lives. Because she had let her grief take over…

A column of black smoke rose above the buildings into the sky. Her breath caught in her throat. As she turned the last street corner, Haibara saw that her fears were confirmed.

Half of the school was missing. The building spewed out fire like crimson blood while firefighters fought the steadily growing flames within. There was screaming and chaos everywhere, mixing together in a frenzy of spine-chilling mayhem. Children ran to and fro with police officers chasing after them, crying for their parents, crying for it all to stop. Nearby, teachers sat quietly in the rubble with their faces in their hands or moaning despairingly at the carnage. There were only three of them, after all.

Haibara couldn't move, couldn't breath. The whispered gossip of onlookers reached her ears. 

"They say there were bombs hidden under the desks."

"Poor things, they never had a chance."

"And they were only children!"

"Do they know who did it yet?"

"I heard the police are looking, but can't find any clues."

"What a shame. Those poor, poor children…"

A gray fog swirled about Haibara's feet as she stumbled down the ally. How she'd gotten there, she didn't know nor care. The sky was gray also, menacing clouds smothering the world from light. She hung her head as she went, eyes blind to all around her. For the moment she was nothing more than a shadow among a world of shadows: emotionless, silent, unable to comprehend.

"We've been waiting."

She looked up. The black figures were grinning at her again. One of them, a tall man with long blond hair and piercing eyes, tossed something at her feet. A paper bag. Normal, if it weren't for a dark substance staining its interior.

"Look in the bag, Sherry." Gin hissed.

Haibara stepped back. She did not want to know what was inside.

A cruel snickering brought her attention back to the dark men. Gin wielded a pistol. Her body froze still as stone as he pointed it at her.

"Now it's your turn."

The shadows spun round and round, all laughing, all sneering at her helplessness. 

"Bye-bye, Sherry…"

**BANG!!**

With a yell, Haibara was jolted out of her sleep, nearly falling off the couch as she did. 

"Ai-chan?"

Ran was kneeling over her with a mixture of worry and surprise. The morning sun filtered through the windows of the office in a dazzling shower of light. "I came to wake you up…did you have a bad dream?"

A dream? Haibara looked down at her shaking hands. Yes, it was a dream. Only in her dreams was she left to be the last to suffer. But it felt so real…so real…

So it was that the young-woman-turned-little-girl found herself sobbing on the shoulder of the person she least wanted to be comforted by. Ran spoke softly, stroking her back with all the gentleness that a mother would have. "There, there, it's okay. It's all over now."

Haibara dearly wished it were. But no, it would be a long time until anything would be okay…


	5. Investigations

Note: This story takes place before Volume 31. I'd also like to add that I am a ConanxAi fan, but only if it's reasonable (which is one of the reasons why I wrote this fanfic). Because we all know Shinichi and Ran are meant for each other! Right? ^_~  
  


Chapter 5- Investigations

Conan pushed the gate open with a creak. "If we can't find anything today, we'll just have to call the police."

"Not that they'll listen to us."

"I know, but it's worth a try. And Detective Sato would help, if she's available."

It was after school when the two had finally lost the Detective Boys and come to Professor Agasa's house. They trotted across the yard, their feet trampling the leaves blown off by the wind.

"So, do you have any theories yet?"

"No; not enough data. As Holmes once said," he struck a serious pose, "'It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.'"

"You know, even if Sherlock Holmes was real, I doubt he'll be able to help us now," Haibara said sarcastically.

"Who says he can't?" Conan winked.

The two children entered Agasa's house apprehensively, not knowing what they might find. But as soon as the door closed, Conan went full power into Detective Mode.

He carefully noted the missing tennis shoes, then pulled on gloves and went straight to the closet. After rummaging around for a few minutes, he turned away with a thoughtful expression.

"Now it makes more sense," he mumbled. "I thought it was strange that he would wear something as casual as tennis shoes, but now it makes sense. Professor Agasa also changed out of his lab-coat and took a raincoat, and did so in a hurry too; a hat fell off the door rack but he didn't bother picking it up."

"A raincoat?" Haibara said with some surprise. "It's been windy, but there hasn't been rain in more than a week. What does it mean?"

"A disguise, or maybe he was going somewhere far away…Anyway, let's look around some more."

They searched the house, inspecting anything that looked even a little out of the ordinary (in other words, everything in the Professor's workshop), but still they found nothing that could tell them where he went. It was only until Conan was rooting through the trashcan that they found their first clue.

"Hello, what's this?" He held up a crumpled piece of paper, on which numerous pen marks could be seen. It was a plain sheet of notebook paper, its surface covered with little black dots from top to bottom. The marks were only on the front side, and the paper had a big tear from where it was torn from a notebook, which they soon found lying on the coffee table.

They smoothed it out on the tabletop in the kitchen and looked over it while they took a short break. Haibara paged through a stack of notes the Professor had laying about, while Conan concentrated on the code breaking. She was confident it wouldn't take long. The girl watched him from the corner of her eyes; watched his wise eyes skim over the marks, searching for a pattern. She watched as something caught his attention, some idea or possibility. He took out his mechanical pencil and set to work. A knowing smile crossed his face.

The finished product made as less sense as it did before. Conan had connected the dots until they resembled a series of stick figures dancing their way across the page. By then he was grinning and even chuckled a few times. But as he surveyed his work, that smile faded from his eyes and was replaced by a look of stunned surprise. Then followed a period of thoughtful silence before he folded up the paper and put it in his pocket.

"What did you find?" Haibara asked as he slid off his chair. 

Conan shrugged. "Oh, nothing. It must not have been a code after all."

Something about his behavior troubled her. Kudo-kun was not the sort of person who would quit so easily when faced with a problem. And if this paper was a coded message, which it certainly seemed to be, how come he could not solve it? Codes were supposed to be his specialty…

"Are you hiding something?" she asked skeptically.

Conan looked a bit _too_ innocent as he replied, "What would I have to hide?" Then, obviously trying to change the subject, he pointed to the Professor's computer. "Did he use that on the night he disappeared?"

Frowning, Haibara answered, "Yes. He was on the Net for quite a while."

She abandoned the notes and helped him turn on the computer. Their small bodies allowed them to both occupy the Professor's desk chair without getting in each other's way. The first thing they did was check all the program files to see if they had been erased.

"Well, they're all here. That's good news," Haibara sighed.

Conan pointed at an icon on the screen. "We better check his bookmarks too."

Soon they were logged onto the Internet, despite Haibara's warning that the phone line could be tapped. Professor Agasa's list of bookmarked webpages was long and diverse. To check them all would take hours, so they just skimmed over the titles and looked at anything that sounded suspicious.

Once, they came upon a bookmark titled "Black" and waited with bated breath as the page loaded. 

Waiting…

Waiting…

A picture appeared with the caption: "Blackberry cheesecake recipes."

They both let out long sighs.

"You know, I find it odd that while other single men would be downloading porn, our dear Professor is looking at pictures of desserts."

"I've been putting him on a diet."

"Aah, so that explains it."

As they neared the end of the list, Haibara lost patience. She got off the chair and strode away, leaving Conan clicking on something on the screen.

"I give up. We're not going to find anything here, so we mind as well wait for him to come back, or for _them _to come get _us_. We're all going to die someday, anyway," she said calmly, though she did not entirely mean it. "Really, sometimes I wonder why we even try. Life is so fragile, even the littlest thing can destroy it." 

__

Like _a pill, or a bullet._ The image of her sister's face loomed up again. It looked even fainter than before, but still had that carefree smile. That smile used to bring warmth to her day, but now it only made her cold.

"……"

"Kudo-kun?"

"Huh? What?" Conan quickly closed the page he was looking at and turned around. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."

Her voice hardened. "It's getting late, and we haven't found anything. Now what?"

"Hmm, well, no news is good news." He hopped off the chair. "We should just wait another day, then he'll come back."

Now, _that_ was unusual.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Just a hunch. Don't worry too much about it. Oh yeah, aren't we going to Tropical Land tomorrow with the kids?"

He smiled, making her shudder slightly.

"Yes."

"Then we can't go meet them looking like the world is going to end." Conan tugged off his gloves and went to get his backpack by the door. "You know, you should smile more."

Yes, he was acting odd. He never was good at keeping secrets, even when his life depended on it. Well, fine, let him play his little games. At least this way it won't be entirely her fault…

"Hey, aren't you coming?" Conan called from the doorway.

Haibara took her small lab coat from where it was slung over the couch. "No, I'm staying here. If the Professor is coming back like you said, I mind as well get some work done." _Though I doubt it_…

"Oh. See you tomorrow then."

Conan pulled the door open and took a deep breath. He seemed to be dreading something. Haibara thought for a moment, then took something from her pocket.

"Wait." She went to the door and held out a small, but beautifully crafted box. "Before he disappeared, the Professor asked me to give this to you. I…I forgot." She looked away. "Here."

Immediately his eyes brightened and he snatched it out of her hands. "_Finally_! Thanks."

As the boy bolted across the yard with a newfound energy, Haibara stood and silently contemplated over what she'd just done. She knew that she might regret it later, but after all, it _was_ the right thing to do. Wasn't it? Maybe; she really wasn't an expert in these things. And it was _such_ a pain seeing him like that…

For truthfully, she hadn't forgotten about that box. It had been on her mind for days until, just now, she'd finally forced herself to give it to him. For truthfully, she'd already guessed what was inside.


	6. Reunion

Note: I'm not exactly sure, but I'm going to assume that Miyano Akemi went to Nanyo College (the one where the real Hirota Masami used to teach). Also, sorry if this seems a bit rushed, but I've lost nearly all inspiration for this story, so I'd just like to reveal all and get it over with.

Chapter 6- Reunion

"Wow! Look at the rides!"

"I want to go on that one!"

"I smell food!"

'Fun' was the word of the day. The three children ran about in circles with excitement, followed by two pairs of less enthusiastic short legs and a longer, more slender pair.

Genta, Mitsuhiko, and Ayumi pointed in three different directions and cried, "Can we go _there_?"

"Sure!" Ran smiled. Due to the absence of the Professor, the kids had had to find a replacement chaperone to take them to Tropical Land, and of course Ran was the next best thing. At first Conan protested, but as it turned out, she had nothing to do on that day and was in a very good mood.

How strange. Especially since only one night before, she'd been showing obvious signs of stress and insomnia. Haibara glanced up at the teenage girl. She was more cheerful than usual, cheeks flushed pink and eyes bright. She hummed a carefree tune as she watched the children enjoy themselves to death. Something had definitely happened.

Haibara glanced back at Kudo-kun. His cheeks were pink too, and he smiled a little. She followed his gaze back to Ran, and a small sparkle of gold caught her eye. A necklace? So her guess had been somewhat accurate after all.

"I see you've managed to charm your way out of trouble again," she muttered. Conan flushed even darker.

Haibara sighed. She knew she would regret it later on, and she was now. Why did doing something good for once make her feel so ill? Couldn't they just admit their feelings real quick and save her the stress of having to watch this disgusting display over and over? But then that'd mean she'd lose her chance…it was very small, and most likely impossible seeing how devoted they were, but still…just maybe…if only…

Forget it. As long as _SHE_ was around, it could never happen. Haibara turned away. She had no idea how lucky she was…

"Haibara-saaaaan!"

The next four hours were spent being dragged around the amusement park by Ayumi, who insisted on holding both Haibara and Conan's hands. They were soon joined by Genta, who's shirt was already covered with stains of every color, and Mitsuhiko, who insisted on taking Haibara on the ferris wheel. 

Soon the day at the park came to an end, and still no Professor. Haibara pointed this out to Conan, and a touch of worry crossed his face. As Ran and the children exited the park, he began pulling his earring phone out of his pocket when—

"Sorry, sorry, was I late?"

Haibara gasped. Professor Agasa squeezed himself out of his yellow Beetle and hurried across the parking lot to them.

"Yeah, you were late." Conan muttered, though he couldn't hide a tiny smile of relief. He quietly slid the phone back into his pocket.

"Professor Agasa, how was your trip?" Ran asked politely.

"Trip? Oh, uh, sure, it was fine. Heheheh…"

"But how—where—why—" Haibara stuttered.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" rang three voices.

Haibara jumped and stared at the kids with a look of uncharacteristic shock. However, this didn't seem to be the reaction they were looking for.

"Aren't you happy?" said Ayumi with a disappointed frown. "You said you forgot your birthday so we decided to make one for you. See?" She took a bracelet from her pocket and put it in the other girl's hands. Genta and Mitsuhiko also pulled out rather squished packages from their pockets and dumped them on the ground.

"I told you you should smile more," Conan winked, while he and Ran added a small package to the other two.

"And here's my contribution," said the Professor, and slipped her a picture frame.

She stared.

Her older sister smiled back at her from the frame. Younger than she remembered, and a bit blurry, but it was her. 

"Ah…"

They all peered over her shoulder at it. Conan had a sad sort of smile. "She looks a lot better this way…"

"Is this your mom?" Mitsuhiko asked. "She's pretty."

"She looks familiar, but I can't remember where I met her…" Ran murmured, and turned to Agasa. "Did she visit you once?"

Before he could answer, Haibara pulled him and Conan away until they were out of earshot from the others. "Where did you get this!?" she hissed at them.

"Sorry, I guess I should explain. Remember you told us that the organization erased everything about your sister? Well, a couple of nights ago I was checking the homepage for Nanyo College and looked through the yearbook pictures. Sure enough, all traces that she ever attended the college had disappeared. But I found that the organization overlooked one thing…" 

Haibara blinked, and Professor Agasa continued.

"There was a group picture in one of the older pages, and in a tiny corner I found your sister. Immediately I contacted the college and found out that they were going to clean out their files that very night, so of course I had to go right away. I took a raincoat, just in case some of that organization's minions were nearby, and traveled to Gunma by train. I retrieved the photo easily, but by the time I'd copied and enlarged the portion with your sister, I'd missed my train back. I didn't have any money left with me so I had to resort to hitchhiking to come back here just in time for your 'birthday.'" 

"I found out about where the Professor had gone when I saw that picture in the webpage he bookmarked," Conan went on. "And after reading the code he'd left me, it all made sense."

"So it was a code!"

"Yup! Though it only looked like dots in the beginning, I started to recognize a pattern. Once I connected them, the message was clear. The Professor had written 'KEEP AIKUNS BDAY SECRET' in the Code of the Dancing Men."

"The Code of the what…?"

"It's from one of Sherlock Holmes's cases," Agasa explained with a grin. "I remembered a period in Shinichi-kun's childhood when he used to write everything in that code, so I used it to write a message back to him."

"You never heard of it!?" Conan looked horrified.

"Unlike you, I'm not obsessed with fictional detectives," Haibara replied coolly. 

He ignored that comment and gave Agasa an exasperated look. "But really, Professor, you should have left us a note or something. You got us all worried for nothing!"

"What are you talking about? I'm sure I left one. I even remember writing it down, and then I--" he hesitated, and reached into his pants pocket. "Oh, well what do you know!" The Professor laughed nervously, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. Conan was not pleased.

Haibara turned away from them and glanced in the direction of the others. The children laughed and chased each other around the parking lot while Ran scolded them for playing in such a dangerous place. Then she looked back at the photo in her hands.

All at once she felt warm inside, a familiar feeling coming from a face she thought she'd never see again. For the first time in a long time, that smile no longer made her feel sad or guilty. Now it promised hope in a new life among new friends in a place where light overwhelmed the dark. "Welcome back, Onee-chan…" she whispered softly.

She smiled.

…The End.

Me: -sniff- I couldn't help it, I HAD to make it a happy ending!

Haibara: Right. If it was a happy ending, you would have paired me up with Kudo-kun.

Conan: What??

Haibara: Oh, nothing…

Me: Well, just be thankful I didn't put any more angst in there! (I'm saving that for The Other End! Mwahahahaha!!)

Conan: HUH?

Me: BTW, the theme for this chapter is "Absolutely (Story Of A Girl)" by Nine Days. Due to its beat, most people wouldn't think it's a song that would fit a dark character like Haibara, but I think it suits her perfectly. ^_^


End file.
